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USS Nautilus (sim)
}The USS Nautilus NCC-853962 was commissioned early in 2376 at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards on Mars. Built at the end of the Dominion War, the Nautilus missed seeing combat by only a matter of months. She was named to honor the USS Nautilus NCC-31910 that had been destroyed during the conflicts closing stages. As a Ronin Class Strike Cruiser, the Nautilus would spend her early career an uncertain element in Starfleet's postwar fleet. = Service History = Early Period In 2376, Captain Mackenzie Taylor became the first commanding officer of the Nautilus, a position he would hold for the first five years of her life. The Nautilus's first mission was to oversee the dismantling of Dominion facilities and assets from within the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, and to facilitate the transfer of all Dominion personnel back through the Bajoran wormhole, in total this mission took the Nautilus four years considering the size of the foothold the Dominion had. When this was completed, the Nautilus along with her sister ship the USS Rutledge participated in tactical simulations while Starfleet debated at length the future of the 'Strike Cruiser' program, a platform that seemed out of place in the traditionally peaceful Federation Starfleet. Fortunately for the Nautilus, and the Ronin Class at large, the Borg Invasion of 2381 occurred and the Ronin's were on the front line utilising their impressive array of weaponry to hold back the Borg Invasion. The Nautilus particularly participated in blocking operations throughout the period, though the destruction of no single Borg vessel has been directly attributed to the Nautilus. Following the dissolution of the Borg Collective by the Caelia Gestalt, Starfleet finally implemented their decision for the Ronin Class. While the class had performed exemplary during both the Dominion War, and the Borg Invasion, they simply did not fit in the post-2381 peacetime fleet. While Starfleet Tactical petitioned to keep the Ronin class and other vessels designed during the war, or designed with only a singular military purpose active in the fleet, Starfleet Command ordered the Tactical Deterrent Arm of Starfleet demobilised and its assets assigned elsewhere. For the Nautilus and the rest of the Ronin Class, this meant mothballs and the Reserve Fleet. Deactivation and the Reserve Fleet For the next four years, the Nautilus sat alongside other relics of the Dominion War, in the Fleet Storage Facility at Delta Vegas aside from semi-regular maintenance, the Nautilus sat abandoned as Starfleet refocused its attention on exploration and peacekeeping, roles that did not require the tactical capacity of the Ronin Class. On 2383 the USS Nautilus was officially deactivated and immediately placed in the Reserve fleet, the result of petitions by Captain Taylor and a number of Admiral's from Starfleet Tactical, the basis of which was that while the Borg had been essentially demilitarized, the threat of the Typhon Pact, and the unstable state of the Romulan Star Empire meant that the potential for future conflicts was very real, and denying Starfleet a tactical asset 'just in case' was a shortsighted one. The Pearl Anchorage and the Dominion Remnant An event in the Gamma Quadrant would forever change the fate of the Nautilus, as the terrorist group known as the Dominion Remnant launched a daring and suicidal attack on the Pearl Anchorage, a Fleet Refit and Replenishment Station used to berth a large portion of the Twelfth Fleet while not on the myriad of convoy escort, colony resupply and exploration duties. This Anchorage was also the home of the 927th Tactical Enforcement Flotilla of the Federation Police Service who had been tasked with investigating the rumours of the Typhon Pact operating within the Gamma Quadrant. Of the sixty-three vessels berthed at the Station, forty had been destroyed and another twelve severely damaged, making the highest loss of ships by the Federation in a peacetime incident. Initially, due to the audacity of the attack, and how centralized it was believed to have been an attack by the Typhon Pact, until the wreckage of the ships responsible for the attack were identified to be of Dominion in origin. After lengthy conversations between Admiral Charles Farrow, Commander of Starbase 629, the headquarters for all Starfleet Operations in the Gamma Quadrants, and Dominion Representative, the Vorta Tholun to determine if the Dominion had broken the treaty, it was revealed that a fringe entity calling themselves the Dominion Remnant was responsible. During these negotiations, the Remnant attacked a number of Federation colonies in the Quadrant, even going as far as threatening Starbase 629. Admiral Farrow petitioned Starfleet Command for assistance as the demands of protecting Federation Assets within the Quadrant had outstretched what was left of the Twelfth Fleet. Reactivation In response to Admiral Farrow's request, the USS Nautilus was reactivated and a speedy process of modernisation was implemented, to bring the ship up to 2384 standards before it was shipped to Starbase 629 while officers and crew were collected from surplus pools. While a number of crewmembers who had served on Ronin Class vessels were reassigned to the Nautilus, none of the former senior staff of the Nautilus were assigned there as most had moved onto other billets. While Captain Taylor had been approached to resume command of the ship, Mackenzie had since settled down to start a family and declined the offer, stating that the Nautilus was someone else's responsibility now. In 2384, Captain Tobias Renshaw was offered the command as his former billet, the USS Renegade had been slated for decommissioning, which he accepted despite having no experience on ship the size of the Nautilus. Tobias whose past had been in the Starfighter Corps, and later a Starfighter Carrier Captain during the Dominion War and the period following; though that did not stop the captain from taking the center seat. = Episode Listing = Season One: Piracy Episode One: Endurance The Ambush The Nautilus's first expedition into the Gamma Quadrant was to escort a relief convoy to Neverdia a former Dominion subject world and the furthermost protectorate on the Federation side of the Demilitarised Zone separating the Dominion and the new Federation colonies. While for most of the journey had been uneventful, until the convoy reached the Binary pair and was attacked by five Dominion vessels, a Warcruiser, and four Attack Ships. While the Nautilus was able to disable two Attack Ships and force the Warcruiser to withdraw with heavy damage, it did so at a heavy cost. While the Nautilus departed Starbase 629 undermanned to begin with, as most assignments had not yet reached the station, it had sustained over a hundred crew members wounded, eighteen killed, including Lieutenant Commander Tomask N'Gried the ship's Chief Engineer. Cosmetically, the ship had been damaged somewhat severely, and being restricted to warp seven a situation that Captain Renshaw reflected on it during his log at the time, that while the Ronin Class had excelled themselves in combat against the Dominion, that even surviving this encounter was a blessing as the ship had to return to Starbase 629 back along the course it had taken, albeit, much slower than it arrived, and the nearest support was over a week away. The Safe Haven As the Nautilus limped back to Starbase 629, it was intercepted by the USS Safe Haven a Harbour-Class Repair ship. Following the news to Starfleet about the attack, Admiral Farrow had sent the Corps of Engineers mobile repair station to the Nautilus to bring her back to full strength. The Safe Haven also had replacement officers and crew, including a replacement Chief Engineer and Chief Counsellor. While the Safe Haven continued its repairs on the Nautilus, the ship was forced to remain motionless. While stuck out in space near the Dominion frontier, Strategic Response Commander, Lieutenant Ronny Garber and interim Executive Officer/Intelligence Chief Tatianna Lazarvoric discovered patterns in the Remnant attacks, it appeared that they were only targeting convoys and traders that weren't being escorted by heavy tonnage escort vessels. All the evidence they had collected pointed to the notion that these pirates had somehow gained access to Starfleet's communications protocols, which gave them access to the locations of all heavy tonnage vessels and avoided their convoys. These tactics disturbed Captain Renshaw, who like most of the senior staff, had served in the war and realised that the Dominion were too honour bound to resort to simple piracy. Apparently this was something that also Starfleet Intelligence had theorized as they had changed the Nautilus' IFF transmitter to make it look like a hospital ship, instead of the Strike Cruiser it was. It was at this point that it was revealed to the crew that the whole point of the Nautilus's mission was, in fact, to test Starfleet Intelligence's theory, and the attack on their convoy proved it. Noticeably Captain Renshaw was furious and ordered the Safe Haven to revert the Nautilus's IFF back to normal (something the ship had actually been sent to do, which explained how quickly it was able to intercept the much faster Nautilus). While the Safe Haven continued its repairs, the Nautilus's sensors picked up indeterminate readings on a parallel course to their own, something, that the ships damaged sensor array could not identify. Lt Garber volunteered to lead an away mission aboard one of the Nautilus's Mustang-Class Runabouts to investigate which the captain begrudgingly accepted as the identities of their attackers still had not been identified, as conversations were still taking place between Admiral Farrow and Tholun. Episode Two: The Hunt The Second Attack While the Nautilus continued their investigation, and the Runabout Isis continued its away mission, the Nautilus was once again attacked by Dominion ships, this time, however, they weren't as prepared as they would have liked as the USS Safe Haven was physically in contact with the Nautilus completing its repairs. While the injuries to the Nautilus were not as severe as the previous encounter, both the Chief Counselor Cassiday Taylor and Assistant Security Chief Rodger Quinn were injured; however the greater loss was the destruction of the Safe Haven, who sacrificed itself to protect the Nautilus from a ramming Dominion Attack Ship, Captain Renshaw demanding answers, ordered the Dominion ships disabled and the ships Strategic Response Unit to board and determine their origins. At this same time, word started to filter in that the Isis had also been attacked and was seeking shelter in a nearby nebula, however, it was what it found that would bring far-reaching problems. The Secret Base As the Nautilus recovered survivors from the Safe Haven, the Strategic Response Unit boarded one of the Dominion vessels and fought their way to the vessel's bridge to determine its origin. While the crew were focused on these tasks, a darker situation manifested, the Isis had gone silent and no one aboard the Nautilus knew why, as the Nebula the runabout had taken refuge in was too dense for transporters, the ships tractor beams had to be modified to allow them to pull the craft out. While aboard the Attack Ship, the SRU discovered that the Jem'Hadar manning them, weren't dependent on Ketracel White, which caused concern amongst the team as they reached the bridge, only to discover that there was no Vorta aboard either. After making contact with the Nautilus, the away team started to pick apart the Attack Ship to find its home base while the Nautilus commenced the extraction of the Isis, an activity hampered by the fact that the ship's sensors detected that the runabout had been hit by a Thalaron weapon, killing Lieutenant Garber, as well as the rest of his away team. Captain Renshaw, after relaying this information to Starfleet, made contact with the captured Dominion Warship, and discovered more damning information relating to the Dominions perceived new weapons, only to discover that it was the Remnant, not the Dominion that was responsible, as the Attack ships originated from an asteroid base at the heart of the DMZ. The Captain ordered Commander Lazarvoic and the SRU team to take the captured Attack ship back to the secret Remnant base and destroy it, if only to deny the Remnant access to the base, and to locate the source of the Thalaron Radiation. The Attack Commander Lazarvoric and Lieutenant Kestra Graxx's SRU team managed to sneak aboard the Remnant base, only to discover that Thalaron Generators were nowhere to be found, however, their housings were still in place so they were able to secure evidence that these were the Attack ships had originated. Unfortunately, their presence had been detected thus necessitating the Nautilus to breach the demilitarized zone to rescue the team, suffering serious damage in the process, but managing to destroy the base in the process. Once the away team had been recovered and the base destroyed, the Nautilus recrossed the border and limped back to Starbase 629. Episode Three: Recovery While attacks against Federation shipping had decreased following the destruction of the Dominion Remnant base, Captain Renshaw and the strike team did have to answer for crossing the demilitarized zone to complete the task. This also allowed the ship the opportunity to repair and recrew, as well as saw goodbye to those officers who had been killed in the previous encounter as well as welcoming aboard some new faces. In the end, the Strike Team and Captain Renshaw were cleared of any wrongdoing, as they had been instrumental in cutting the reach of the Remnant. = Current Episode = Episode Four: The Signing While the Nautilus was berthed at Starbase 629 undergoing repairs, Captain Renshaw was informed that his ship had been selected to escort Sector Operations Chief, Admiral Walter Bennett to the Golgotha System to officiate the signing of a defence treaty that would bring all the fringe territories, formally under the Federations protection. While Captain Renshaw immediately rejected the idea, as his crew were still investigating how the remnant had gained access to Thalaron technology, and more importantly, who was leaking the communication protocols to them. Admiral Farrow's orders to drop the investigation only managed to increase the captain's resolve in finding answers. However, the transfer of his Intelligence Chief did have some impact on the investigation, as part of the reason for the transfer was that Commander Lazarvoric had gotten a little too close to finding out who was responsible, something Starfleet Intelligence didn't want to reveal until they were certain. = Upcoming Episodes = Episode Five: Dark Horizon Episode Six: The Admiral's Ire Episode Seven: S.A.R.A External link *[http://thedocnetwork.net/nautilus/index.php/main/index USS Nautilus] Nautilus Category:Taskforce Equinox Category:Active RPGs